My day in Brunei

12/20/14

Brunei-Bandar Seri Begawan

Woke up early, ready to embrace the day ahead. We were almost in Brunei, a place of much mystery and controversy to me. The is a port that is difficult to find info on so I want to share our brilliant excursion with "Tours by Locals" with tour guide Esjay. We were picked up promptly at 10:15 after clearing customs in a short while. Our passports had be taken away upon embarkation and we were only required to carry our cruise cards.

Brunei is quite lovely once you get out of the port. As we headed for our first stop, Esjay taught some of the more shocking aspects of this closed culture including Sharia Law. This kind of brutal law which finds you getting your hands amputated when you steal, being put to death for cheating on your husband, and worse, it quite barbaric and it supposed to help unite the Muslim people of Brunei. I don't see how. We were assured that Sharia law had not been implemented yet.

Our first stop was the lush and beautiful Empire Hotel. It was quite grand and beautiful and I was amazed at the marble inlaid floors and walls. I used the bathroom and was shocked to find Elemis products in there including hand wash and a fabulous hand cream, these products are among the most expensive you can buy! I slathered my body with it!

Next we drove past Jerudong Park and Polo Club. The park, an old amusement center that reminded me of Disneyland, used to be free to residents but now costs money to visit. They even had a Matterhorn roller coaster. The park had been renovated and removing the best rides, it was now a shadow of its former self. Next we drove through the Polo park and stables and saw many beautiful horses including pure white Arabians (I think) and many rows of handsome animals. The saddest park here was when we arrived at a stop where the queen kept her pet, a small and lovely Elephant who was shackled by chains at her feet. This was so sad, as I called to her she raised her shackled leg and we all wept for her. So so sad.

Then we drove through a local neighborhood, seeing where locals lived and learning about how each basic home costs approx. 89,000 BHT. Many of the homes were upgraded, and they looked like very nice places to live. We continued onto our lunch stop in the city, about a 20 minute drive.

We ate at Gohan Sushi and Shabu-Shabu Restaurant, which was lovely and scenically located over looking a Mosque. The food was delicious, I had Veggie sushi rolls, and a Vegi bowl called Dong which was very tasty. We all really enjoyed our food and was glad we did not sign up for the pre- determined meal but rather ate from the ala carte menu. After lunch it had started raining and one of the employees individually walked us back to the bus holding an umbrella to protect us from getting wet. It was lovely.

Next we headed to the Royal Regalia Museum. Nobody told us that we would be walking around in many of these sites without shoes and of course I was not wearing socks so it this bothers you do bring socks. Esjay was kind enough to stop at a shop so we could buy socks and this saved the day for several others and me. The Regalia Museum was full of opulence and the indulgences the Sultan lavished upon himself, not my favorite place but nonetheless quite enlightening. The most shocking face I learned here was that all Muslim woman got circumcised at birth! This is what we call Female genital mutilation. The purpose of this practice is to insure that women don't cheat on their husbands, taking away any pleasurable feelings she might feel. It took me awhile to unwrap my brain from this learning! We moved through the museum in about 45 minutes, I bought some magnets and even bargained a little!

Next we headed to river and a lovely Mangrove and Proboscis Monkey tour. The boat ride was fantastic, we cooled down from the increasingly oppressive heat and humidity, saw lush natural bushes, trees, and wildlife including a large family of Monkeys. This was certainly a highlight of the day for me. As we headed in our boat to the water villages we saw the old and the new towns as one. We stopped at a lovely water home where we were invited in for tea and snacks such as cookies, and rice with coconuts. This was a lovely experience and we learned much about daily life here. I also found several cats to pet, missing my own very much, and made a four legged friend! After our visit, we piled back into the boat and headed back to our starting point.

Next we visited the Jame Asre Mosque. We were bowled over by its beauty and opulence, learning that there were 29 steps up, 29 Minerets, all commentating the 29th Sultan who built this. We got a special treat here as were were lead up the Royal entrance, and through the Royal doors! The Mosque was incredible, beautiful and it was delightful watching a few men in prayer. My favorite part was hearing the haunting call to prayer, which gave me the chills. This was another highlight of our day.

All in all we spent over 8 hours here. The bus ride back was swift and as we went Esjay taught the traditional handshake and some traditional Christmas songs and we all sang along as she taught us it. She passed the mic around and we all got to sing Xmas songs from our countries, but I declined to sing the Dreidel song for obvious reasons ;) opting to remain undercover in this very Muslim country! We got back to the port with a half hour to spare, zoomed into the ship to change and dine. It was such an incredible day!

Tour Info: Bandar Seri Begawan (Muara), Brunei

We used a private company called Tours by Locals and had a fantastic full day tour including lunch at a fabulous restaurant, a bus tour of all the major sites including the Brunei museum, a boat ride to see Monkeys, a tour of the water houses and town including snacks and tea at a local homes, and a visit to a magnificent Mosque. We all had a fantastic time with our lovely guide Esjay for about $60 pp, not including lunch. It was a wonderful day and I highly recommend Tours by Locals.

Thanks for the review!

We have visited Brunei before while on a Legend of the Seas cruise. We took a ship's tour as we did not know of any local tour operators.

Here is my review.

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/2014/01/brunei-cruise-port-call-legend-of-seas.html

Thanks for the review!

 

We have visited Brunei before while on a Legend of the Seas cruise. We took a ship's tour as we did not know of any local tour operators.

 

Here is my review.

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/2014/01/brunei-cruise-port-call-legend-of-seas.html

Thanks! :)

Originally Posted by Iluvcruising2

We have visited Brunei before while on a Legend of the Seas cruise. We took a ship's tour as we did not know of any local tour operators.

Here is my review.

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogsp...d-of-seas.html

Thank you for the extensive info/photo on your Brunei tour. we will be going in August, not sure what to do at this port yet!

Thanks for taking the time to record your day. It was very interesting and will be useful for our future stop there in August.

I visited many of the sites you mentioned in 2008. Brunei was a favorite stop of mine. The visit to the water people's house was most interesting. A favorite souvenior of mine is an expensive clear plastic cube with some "petroleum" encased within.

A memorable negative, however, was with the wealth that the country has, its port's harbor was filled with trash.